Government undervaluing midwifery workforce is ‘no joke’

As the number of midwives falls yet again, the Royal College of Midwives has said that the undervaluing of the midwifery workforce by this government is no joke.

More than half of the midwives surveyed in the NHS Staff Survey said they often think about leaving their job. According to the RCM this figure has ‘grown considerably’ since the 2020 survey. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said they regularly feel burnt out because of their work, with the same number reporting regularly feeling exhausted at the thought of another understaffed shift.

Latest NHS workforce figures also show that England has 410 fewer midwives now than at the same point last year, which is topped off by an already existing shortage of over 2,000 midwives.

Alice Sorby, the RCM’s Director for Employment Relations, said: “This week’s batch of figures show that the midwifery workforce is under-resourced, under-paid and under-valued – and the blame for that sits squarely at the government’s door. The RCM has been raising this for well over a decade, and been ignored by successive Health Secretaries. It is time Sajid Javid sits up and takes notice, because midwives and maternity support workers are at breaking point.

“It is absolutely shocking to see the impact understaffing is having on RCM members. We have warned the government time and time again that midwives, maternity support workers and all those working in maternity services are at the end of their tether, that they are physically and emotionally burnt out. For far too long too many staff have been plugging the staffing gaps, and the government has been cashing in on that goodwill. Maternity services cannot be run on the cheap, and certainly not by relying on staff working beyond their paid hours. It’s not safe and it’s not sustainable.”